Tag: Dynamics AX inventory replenishment

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, by setting up some item coverage settings and default order settings, you’ll easily be able to have Microsoft Dynamics AX recommend inventory replenishment when running master scheduling. Below are the steps to set this up.

Navigate to Product Information Management > Common > Released Products and select the item in edit mode.

On the Plan FastTab, select the appropriate coverage group for your company and item.

On the Plan tab of the action pane at the top, select item coverage and use the wizard to create the item coverage settings based on the coverage group selected (i.e. site, warehouse, minimum inventory, maximum inventory, lead times, etc), then click close. (See screen shot below)

On the Plan tab, select default order settings then set your purchase site, inventory site, minimum order quantity and purchase lead time, then click close. (See screen shot below)

On the Plan tab, add the site specific order settings such as site, purchase warehouse and inventory warehouse, then click close. (See screen shot below)

Next you’ll need to know which planning strategy to use with Master Scheduling. There are three types of plans to choose from to support your company’s operations. Dynamic plan is for short term planning and can be updated every time the master data changes. Forecast plan is for plans involving forecast and demand. Static planis for long term planning, which remains unchanged until the next time you run master scheduling. These plans can be configured in the Master Plans form in the Master Planning module under setup then under plans. For example, if you have an item in which you want to maintain a minimum inventory level for the long term, then you would choose static plan.

On the Plan tab of the released product, click on Net Requirements. Select the plan type from the drop down menu at the top. Then in the middle section on the overview tab, select update > master scheduling and click ok. This runs the master scheduling to determine if inventory of this item needs to be replenished.

You can also run master scheduling from Master Planning > Periodic > Master scheduling. By running master scheduling from the Master Planning module, you can select multiple items to run at the same time.

Once the master scheduling job has completed, if AX determines that inventory should be replenished, it will automatically create a planned order for the item(s) that were included in the master scheduling run. The next step is to convert any planned orders (purchase, production, transfer) to actual orders.

Once you’ve converted your order, you can return to the released product form to view the status of your item under Net requirements. If you run master scheduling again from this screen while there are existing orders (planned or firmed), and/or on-hand inventory, and the quantities are at or above the minimum inventory quantity as set in the item coverage settings, then AX will not generate a planned order. If there are no planned orders, no open purchase orders and on-hand inventory is below the minimum, then AX will generate a planned order when you run master scheduling.